A Tag Team Tournament of Friends
by PC the Unicorn
Summary: On their way to Ash final gym in the Kalos region, Ash and his friends stop in a town to enter a Tag Team Tournament and meet familiar faces. Hints of Amourshipping and Laserblade shipping (Korrina X Clemont)
1. Let The Tournament Begin!

**Hey everyone this is my first Pokémon fan fiction so I'm going to give it my best shot. I've had this idea in my head for a while now, so I decided to finally put it into action. This takes place shortly after Ash beat Olympia but right before Ash and the gang meet Squishy. I hope you enjoy this story. Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, all rights belong to the Pokémon Company.**

On the way to Ash's next gym battle, Ash and his friends signed up for a tag team tournament that is being held in Plawer Town, where they were currently eating lunch. "Man I'm glad we found about this tag team tournament." Ash said with full of excitement. "This reminds me of the tag team tournament I competed in Hearthome City back in Sinoh. Plus it will be great to get some practice before my next gym battle. Isn't that right Pikachu?"

"Pikachu!" Pikachu said in agreement.

"Plus seeing all of the great battles may give me an idea for a new kind of performance I can use at my next Pokémon showcase" Serena said cheerfully. All she had to do was to get one more princess key and she would be one step closer to accomplishing her dream.

"You are going to do great Serena." Ash said with a smile causing Serena to blush. Whenever Ash complemented her it always felt like she had Butterfree's flying around in her stomach.

"I just can't wait to see all of the amazing Pokémon! Bonnie said excitedly. Plus maybe I can find finally find you a future wife big brother?" Clemont dropped his head in embarrassment and groaned at his little sister comment.

"Bonnie I've told you a million times, stops trying to find me a wife." Clemont said in embarrassment but Bonnie wasn't having it.

"No way big bro, I need to make sure that you have a reliable, sweet, and beautiful wife to look after you while I'm on my Pokémon Journey." Bonnie said with full of pride with her brother simply sighing. Suddenly the speaker was turned on.

"Attention, all trainers who have signed up for the tag team tournament please makes your way to the stadium while also getting a number ticket.

"Well looks like it time to go. Ash said as he quickly got out of his seat. Let's head to the stadium.

…

Just like the many tournaments and leagues Ash have competed in, the stadium for the tag team tournament was huge. Ash and his friends saw trainers all around the stadium with each of them holding a card with a number. Meanwhile Jessie, James, Meowth, and Wobuffet were watching in disguise as vendors.

"Popcorn, get your delicious Popcorn!"James shouted as he made his way down the stairs.

"And wash down the popcorn with some a cool bottle of water" Meowth added in.

"We are selling them for a fair price!" Jessie shouted happily.

"Wobuffet!" Wobuffet said in agreement.

Suddenly the announcer, a round belly man with a gray colored mustache, and wearing a colorful suit of red, blues, and yellow with a black top hat started to speak. "Hello everyone, as mayor of this great town I'm glad to welcome you to the annual Plawer Tag Team tournament." The entire audience applauded in excitement before the mayor resumed speaking. "In this tournament not only do the Pokémon must work together but also the trainers themselves must work together too. They are Thirty-two trainers here that will form sixteen teams, but only one team will win the mystery prize! So for the next three days they will be tons of amazing battles! Now make sure you have your registration card and look for the number next to yours on the screen. You will also see the letter block you are in with the block ranging from the A block to the H block. Now let's get this tournament started!" The giant screen came to life and revealed the numbers of the trainers and what block they were located in. Ash who is number seven is paired with number fifteen and was in the D block, Serena who is number twelve is paired with number twenty-two is in the E block, and Clemont who is number six was paired with number thirty-six is in the A block. So Ash, Serena, and Clemont with Bonnie split apart to find their partners.

"Fifteen, I'm looking for a fifteen." Ash shouted as he turned left and right.

"Pika, Pika." Pikachu said as he waved Ash number card while standing on Ash hat. Suddenly Ash felt a poke on his back and turned around to see none other than Miette!

"Hey there Ash, I heard you were looking for number fifteen. Miette said happily as she showed him her card. So I guess that means you are number seven."

Meanwhile Clemont and Bonnie were looking for his partner for the tournament number thirty six.

"Thirty Six, we are looking for number thirty six." Bonnie shouted. "Where is your partner Clemont? Clemont then pushed his finger on his glasses slightly upward and started smiling confidently causing Bonnie to back up a bit as she knew what was about to happen next.

"Don't worry Bonnie, I had a feeling we would encounter a situation just like this." Clemont said confidently as went into his book bag. "The future is now thanks to science, Clemontic gear on! Clemont then pulled out a device that looked like a dowsing machine only with a number pad from out of his backpack. I call it the Finding your tag team partner scanner!"

"You really got to work on the naming part for your inventions." Bonnie pointed out dryly. Ignoring her Clemont went on to explain what his invention does.

"All I have to do is type in the number I'm looking for and then the machine will direct me to the person with that number." Clemont explained as he typed in thirty six and the machine started beeping immediately. "That's strange; it's saying that number thirty six is standing right behind me. He turns around to see none other than Korrina and her Lucario. Korrina! I didn't expect to see you here."

Korrina gave Clemont a smile. "After my battle with Ash I decided to sign up for the tournament so me and Lucario can become even stronger together. Korrina explained. Isn't that right Lucario?"

"Lucario." Lucario said in agreement.

"Well I guess you must be number thirty six, according to my machine here. Clemont explained. Suddenly the machine started beeping louder and louder before exploding in a bright flash of light which caused Clemont, Bonnie, Korrina, Dedenne, and Lucario to be covered in soot.

"Look like you have to go back to the drawing board big bro." Bonnie said dryly.

"Dedenne" Dedenne said as he agreed with Bonnie.

"On the plus side you two will definitely win since you are both strong gym leaders." Bonnie said cheerfully which shocked Korrina.

"Wait, you are a gym leader Clemont!?" Korrina asked in shock. "How come no one ever told me you were a gym leader?

"Really?" Clemont asked surprisingly. "Huh, I assumed that one of us told you I was a gym leader. But yeah, I'm the proud gym leader of the Lumiose Gym of Lumiose City."

"So wait if you are traveling with Ash who's running your gym?" Korrina asked.

"Clembot." Clemont said. He's a robot I made so that whenever I was gone trainers could challenge him to a match." Clemont explained. "Though since I wanted to give Ash a real challenge I headed back to my gym early to prepare for our battle. It was a great battle, but in the end Ash won and got the Voltage badge from me."

"Man I wish I could have been there and watched that battle." Korrina said excitedly. But let's be an awesome tag team and win this tournament!"

"Yeah!"

Meanwhile Serena was looking for her partner, number twenty two. "Twenty two, I'm looking for number twenty two." Serena shouted.

"Serena is that you?" A familiar voice asked. Serena turned around and saw that the familiar voice she heard was Sawyer.

"Hey Sawyer, it's great to see you again." Serena said.

"Thanks, so if you are looking for twenty two does that mean you are number twelve?" Sawyer asked.

"Yeah, I guess that makes us partners. Serena said. She wished she was paired with Ash so they could get closer, but teaming up with a friend was still great too. Suddenly she felt someone poke her back, as she turned around she saw Miette with Ash much to her shock. Miette, what are you doing here?"

"Why joining the tournament to come up with some new ideas for performance techniques. Miette replied with a sly smile. Plus I'm paired up with Ash for the tag team tournament."

"R-really?" Serena stuttered. Out of all the people Ash could have been paired with, why did it have to be Miette?

"Yeah, we plan on winning this tournament!" Ash said confidently. Serena put on a brave face as she smiled at Ash. She was glad that he was going to enjoy the tournament but what if Miette tried to make a move on Ash, or worse reveal her own feeling to Ash. As if she was in her mind Miette leaned closely and whispered in her ear.

"Yeah we will be spending a _lot_ of time together training. Miette teased causing Serena to blush in embarrassment. Better hope I don't say or do anything."

"Serena, Ash, Sawyer, it's great to see you guys again!" Korrina said in delight momentarily distracting her. Clemont, Bonnie, Lucario, and Dedenne walking beside her.

"Korrina it's great to see you again." Ash said.

"How have you been?" Serena asked.

"Great, me and Clemont are partners, and we plan on winning this Tournament." Korrina said confidently.

"I wouldn't be too confident if I were you. Ash said. If anyone is going to win it's going to be me and Miette."

"Hey don't forget about us, me and Serena are going to win this tournament!" Sawyer said confidently.

"Attention trainers!" The mayor announced with all of the trainers focusing on him. The tournament does not commence for another half hour. So please take that time to train with your partner and prepare for your match."

"We better get ready Clemont." Korrina said.

"Yeah."

"Come on Miette, let's practice." Ash said as he head toward the practice field with Miette following right behind her. Miette flashed a Serena a cocky smile as she ran off with Ash causing Serena to glare at her. She then felt a hand on her shoulder and turned her head to see it was Sawyer.

"Come on Serena, we need to get ready too." Sawyer said. Trying not to worry about Miette she put on a brave smile and went with Sawyer to go train.

…

"Alright everyone it's time for our first match! The mayor said as the audience cheered in anticipation. The rules of the matches in the tournament is simple, each trainer is allowed to use only one Pokémon with no time limit and no substitutions. Whichever team is unable to battle is defeated with the winners advancing to the winners advancing to second round. Let the first battle of the day in the A block commence!"

"Lucario you are up!" Korrina said to Lucario who nodded his head as he flipped onto the battlefield.

"Bunnelby come on out!" Clemont announced as he threw his Pokeball at the field with Bunnelby coming out of the Pokeball in a bright white flash.

"Bunnelby!" Bunnelby said.

"Huh so the Lucario girl twerp is competing in the tournament too huh?" Jessie asked her teammates.

"Perfect, just imagine how happy the boss will be when we present him not only Pikachu, but also a mega stone and a Lucario!" James said with joy.

"I can hear the boss praising us already." Meowth said with full of delight.

"Wobuffet!" Wobuffet added in.

Their opponents, a boy in and a girl in their teens threw out their Pokeball's, the girl sent out a Wingull with the boy sending out a Magmar.

"Magmar use smokescreen!" The boy commanded with Magmar blowing black smoke unto the field.

"Wingull use supersonic!" The girl commanded with Wingull sending screeching sound waves into the smoke.

"Lucario use Metal sound to counter supersonic and clear the smoke!" Korrina told Lucario.

"Lucario!" Lucario said as he banged his spikes together in order to create metal sound as it countered supersonic and cleared the smoke while also lowering Wingull and Magmar special defense.

"Bunnelby use mud shot on Magmar!" Clemont ordered.

"Bunnelby!" Bunnelby said as he formed three mud balls between his ears and launched them at Magmar causing it a lot of damage.

"Wingull use Wing attack on Lucario!" The female trainer said to Wingull as his wings glowed in white light.

"Wingull!" Wingull shouted as he charged at Lucario.

"Magmar use flame thrower on Bunnelby!" The male trainer commanded as Magmar shot a stream of fire at him.

"Bunnelby, dodge by using dig!" Clemont ordered as Bunnelby dug underground.

"Lucario jump over Wingull and then hit it with Aura Sphere!" Korrina commanded as Lucario jumped over Wingull and threw a blue ball of energy at Wingull causing an explosion of smoke with Wingull fainting. At the same time Bunnelby popped out of the ground and performed an uppercut on Magmar with its ears causing Magmar to faint."

"Magmar and Wingull are unable to battle; the victory goes to Bunnelby and Lucario!"

"Yeah, we did it Clemont!" Korrina said excitedly as she hugged Clemont in happiness causing Clemont to blush as red as a tomato.

"Um th-thanks." Clemont stuttered. "We do make a great team."

"We sure do." Korrina replied as she let go of Clemont while still smiling at him. Meanwhile in the stadium Ash, Pikachu, Miette, Serena, Sawyer, Bonnie, and Dedenne were watching the battler.

"Man that was one awesome battle." Ash said with admiration.

"It sure was," Sawyer commented. "Though I guess that what someone should expect when two gym leaders are paired as a tag team."

"They are definitely going to be hard to beat." Serena commented. She have seen firsthand how strong they could be, and Lucario didn't even mega evolve in the match. Beating them was definitely going to be a challenge.

"Well we shouldn't have any trouble Ash." Miette said to ash with a confident smile as she touched his shoulder making Serena glare at her. "You've defeated both of them in order to get your gym badges, so I know you can do it again. Plus we can spend plenty of time together so we can develop a strategy to battle them."

"Thanks Miette, that sounds like a great idea!" Ash said to Miette. This caused Miette to smile smugly at Serena causing her to grind her teeth at Miette cocky attitude. She kept on rubbing in the fact that she would be able to spend tons of time with her. She just hoped that Miette wouldn't say or do anything.

"Well I think I found Clemont the perfect wife." Bonnie said with a air of confidence.

"Who is it?" Serena asked. She haven't seen Bonnie run up to any random girls during the entire time they were in the town. Who on earth could it be?

"Why Korrina, duh," Bonnie said as if it was obvious. "They are perfect for each other, Clemont is super smart, Korrina is super athletic so she can help Clemont get into shape, and they are both amazing gym leaders. I don't know why I didn't see it sooner."

Serena rubbed her head nervously while not saying anything. She have gotten use to Bonnie always looking for someone to marry/take care of her brother and decided just to leave the situation up to Clemont.

…

"And the first match in the D block is off with a bang with Frogadier and Slurpuff battling against Umbreon and Glaceon.

"Glaceon use Ice shard on Frogadier and Slurpuff!" A male teen ordered.

"Umbreon use Shadow Ball on them too!" A female teen ordered.

"Glaceon!" Glaceon shouted as it launched ice shards at Frogadier and Slurpuff.

"Umbreon!" Umbreon shouted as it launched a shadow ball from its mouth toward Frogadier and Slurpuff.

"Frogadier counter with Water Pulse!" Ash said.

"Slurpuff counter the attack too with Energy Ball!" Miette said.

"Frogadier!"

"Slurpuff!"

Frogadier charged a blue ball of energy while Slurpuff charged three green balls of energies before both of them throwing their energy balls at the opposing Pokémon attacks causing an explosion of smoke to appear. "Now Frogadier, use Cut on Glaceon!" Ash ordered. Frogadier formed a white colored energy needle in its hand as it quickly ran up to Glaceon and slashed at it causing it to slide backwards.

"Glaceon use Ice Beam on Frogadier!" The male trainer commanded as it shot a beam of blue energy at Frogadier.

"Dodge it and use Aerial Ace! Ash ordered. Frogadier easily dodged ice beam while at the same time one of his legs started glowing white. He ran up to Glaceon in a blur before giving it a devastating kick causing Glaceon to be sent flying backward with it fainting.

"Umbreon use quick attack on Slurpuff!" The female ten trainer ordered As Umbreon quickly ran up to Slurpuff. Thinking quickly on her feet Miette ordered Slurpuff to use cotton spore. As yellow sparkles came from Slurpuff body across the field it made Umbreon slow down its attack leaving an opening to strike back.

"Now use Energy Ball on Umbreon!" Miette ordered as Slurpuff summoned three small green balls of energies and threw then at Umbreon as it caused Umbreon to fly backward and crashed into the ground causing it to faint.

"Umbreon and Glaceon are unable to battle," The referee announced. The winners are Frogadier and Slurpuff!"

"Yeah we did it!" Ash said happily as he raised his hand for a high five to Miette with her clapping his hand.

"We make an awesome team!" Miette said confidently while smiling sweetly at Ash.

"Man, Ash sure has gotten a lot stronger since I last battled him." Korrina commented as she was watching the battle from the sidelines.

"Yeah, and Miette is pretty strong herself too," Clemont added. "Her strategy of slowing down Umbreon Quick Attack with Cotton Spore so she could get an opening to strike back at Umbreon was genius."

"Oh man, I got to write down that strategy in my notebook." Sawyer said as he pulled out his notebook and started scribbling down notes. "That technique will be really helpful when I'm battling against fast Pokémon."

"Yeah Miette is an impressive trainer." Serena said in admiration. Even though she didn't like admitting it to herself she had to admit that Miette and Ash were a pretty strong team.

…

"The time has come for the last battle of the day the H block." The mayor announced. "Let's end the first day of the tag team tournament with a bang."

"Let's win this round Serena." Sawyer said to Serena.

"Right"

"Come on out Bagon!" Sawyer shouted as he threw his Pokeball out into the field with Bagon coming out of it in a flash.

"Bagon!" Bagon shouted in excitement.

"Pancham, come on out!" Serena shouted as she threw her Pokeball out into the field with Pancham coming out of it in a flash.

"Pancham!" Pancham shouted in confidence.

A girl dressed in a dark hooded shawl threw her Pokeball out to the field to reveal that her Pokémon was a Gengar. Her partner, a man wearing a large brown winter coat despite of the warm weather threw out his Pokeball to reveal that his Pokémon was Beartic.

"Hmm," Clemont hummed. "A Beartic and Gengar, Serena and Sawyer are somewhat at a disadvantage.

"What do you mean Clemont?" Bonnie asked.

"Well Gengar is a ghost type, so Pancham fighting moves won't have any effect on it." Clemont explained. "And Ice type moves are super effective against Dragon Types so Sawyer will have to worry about Beartic ice attacks."

"But on the plus side Pancham rock type moves will be super effective against Beartic." Ash added.

"That is true too," Korrina commented. "We'll just have to see how this battle turns out.

"Pancham use Dark Pulse on Beartic!" Korrina ordered. Pancham shot a beam of purple and black circles at Beartic.

"Gengar jump in front of Dark Pulse and absorb it!" The hooded girl trainer ordered as Gengar jumped in front of Pancham attack and taking on the full force of the attack with no evidence of it even harming it.

"Bagon quick, use Dragon Claw on Gengar!" Sawyer said to his Bagon as green energy claws surrounded his arms as he charged at Gengar and was about to swipe at him before Gengar trainer told him to jump high, which allowed the male coat trainer to order his Beartic to use Icy Wind and sending a stream of cold air toward sending Bagon flying backwards which also dealt a bunch of damage to him. While still in the air the hooded girl trainer told her Granger to use Shadow Ball on Pancham. Gengar summoned a black and purple ball of dark energy and launched it at Pancham which made contact with him and sent him flying backwards.

"Now that's what I call an extraordinary showmanship of teamwork ladies and gentleman. The mayor announced.

"Man that Beartic and Gengar are really tough." Miette commented.

"Yeah, if Serena and Sawyer want to win this, they'll have to come up with a strategy to deal with them." Ash added on. On the field Serena bit her lip as she tried to think of a way to deal with Gengar and Beartic when she can she came up with an idea.

"Sawyer follows my lead, and wait for my signal. Serena said to Sawyer who nodded his head in confirmation. Pancham use Stone Edge and jump from pillar to pillar toward Gengar and Beartic."

"Pancham!" Pancham shouted as it slammed its fist's summoning rock pillars glowing in blue light toward them which then sent them flying while also jumping from pillar to pillar to gain speed.

"Bagon, follow Pancham lead!" Sawyer said to Bagon as he jumped from pillar to pillar too to also gain a speed boost."

"Now Pancham, jump and use a back to back Arm Thrust on Beartic and finish it with Dark Pulse!" Serena ordered. Pancham hands glowed white as he then gave Beartic two powerful punches which sent it crashing into the ground before sending a powerful beam of purple and black circles at Beartic. Once the dust settled it showed that Beartic have fainted.

"Now Bagon, jump also and use Dragon Claw on Gengar!" Sawyer ordered. Green energy claws formed around and tried to slash at Gengar but the girl in the shawl told Gengar to counter Dragon Claw with Shadow Claw. The two powerful moves made contact with each other resulted in an explosion with both Pokémon landing back on the battlefield. Both Bagon and Pancham was huffing and puffing, but Gengar didn't even seem to be breaking a sweat.

"Oh right, Serena took down Beartic!" Bonnie said excitedly.

"Yeah but they'll still have to worry about that girl Gengar." Korrina reminded Bonnie. "And judging by the looks of it, Gengar doesn't seem to be even tired.

"Now Gengar use Confusion on them!" The female trainer in the shawl told her Gengar. Gengar eye's glows blue which resulted in Pancham and Bagon staggering around the field.

"Oh no, Pancham and Bagon are confused, what are they going to do now?" Bonnie asked worriedly.

"I don't know," Clemont said. "Confusion last for a certain amount of time but I'm not sure if they will be able to last that long."

"Now Gengar, use Shadow Punch on Pancham and Bagon!" The girl trainer ordered with Gengar launching a fist that look like a shadow at both of them.

"Pancham, try to dodge it!" Serena said to Pancham.

"You too Bagon." Sawyer said to Bagon. Sadly to no avail, both of them got hit by Gengar Shadow Punch.

"Man, what are we going to do Serena?" Sawyer asked in worriment. "Both of our Pokémon are confused and almost done for and that Gengar doesn't seem to be running out of steam.

Serena wasn't sure what to tell Sawyer since she had no clue herself. If Ash was battling he would have come up with some great idea to get rid of confusion. _Wait a second that's it; I need to think like Ash! But what would Ash do? He usually take advantage of his surroundings or situation._ _Wait a second that's it!_ _I'll use my surroundings to my advantage!_

"Pancham use Stone Edge on yourself and Bagon!" Serena ordered shocking everyone due to her unusual move. Pancham fists glow blue and slammed them on the ground with pillars launching both Pancham and Bagon up in the air.

"What are you doing Serena? Sawyer asked in confusion.

"Just watch and attack when I attack." Serena replied with a confident smile as she looked up in the sky. Just like she hoped for Pancham and Bagon seemed to have snapped out of Confusion due to Stone Edge. "Now Pancham use Dark Pulse on Gengar with everything you got!" Pancham shot a beam of purple and black circles at Gengar, and Sawyer, following Serena lead, Sawyer told Bagon to use Dragon Breath on Gengar with Bagon releasing a light blue fiery blast from its mouth. The two beams combined making a critical hit on Gengar and resulted in a huge explosion of smoke covering the entire field. Once the smoke settled both Pancham and Bagon were on their feet with Gengar lying on its back fainted.

"Beartic and Gengar are unable to battle." The Referee announced. "The winners are Pancham and Bagon!"

"Yes we won!" Sawyer said happily. He turned to look at Serena with a look of awe. "Serena, how did you come up with that idea to snap Pancham and Bagon out of confusion?"

Serena smiled in embarrassment at Sawyer praise. "It was nothing really, I just asked myself what Ash would do, and using Stone Edge to snap them out of confusion seemed like something Ash would do."

"It was still brilliant all the same!" Sawyer said causing Serena to be even more embarrassed.

"Man using Stone Edge to snap Pancham and Bagon out of confusion sure was an interesting way to turn around this battle." Miette said.

"Yeah, that seemed like something you would come up with Ash." Clemont said to Ash who rubbed his head in embarrassment.

"Yeah, it sure does don't it?" Ash said as he continued to rub his head in embarrassment.

"Well the great thing is that all of you guys are moving to the next round!" Bonnie said with much excitement.

"Dedenne" Dedenne said as he agreed with Bonnie.

"That concludes our last match of the Tag Team tournament for today!" The Mayor announced. Come back tomorrow to see even more amazing battles!"

 **Well there goes chapter one, I hope you enjoyed it. I'll be busy with School and working on an idea for a cartoon show idea, but please follow the story and the next chapter should be out in two or three weeks. Until then, stay safe and have a good day XD.**


	2. Training Session

With the first day of the tag team tournament over Ash, Clemont, Serena, Korrina, Sawyer, Miette, and all of their Pokémon were watching the sunset from on top of a small hill while eating a meal Clemont prepared for them. "Mmmmmm!" Korrina hummed as she slurped the noodles Clemont cooked. "This is delicious Clemont! You could become a gourmet cook with your skills at cooking." Clemont rubbed the back of his head and in embarrassment at Korrina's comment.

"Thanks, but my heart lies with inventing things that can help both people and Pokémon." Clemont said.

"Well, at least I know when I find you a wife; you can do cooking, "Bonnie said happily as she stared at Korrina who didn't notice Bonnie looking at her since she was focused on eating the food. Clemont however noticed that Bonnie was staring at Korrina and blushed as red tomato but kept quiet since he didn't want to start a scene. He would just have to talk to Bonnie again about trying to get girls to date him.

"So Ash how many badges do you have now?" Miette asked.

"Seven, all I need is one more badge and then I'll be able to enter the Kalos league," Ash explained.

"Is the gym leader of Anistar City strong?" Sawyer asked Ash.

"Yeah, Olympia is really tough," Ash said. "You are going to want to watch out for Future Sight by counting the seconds in between."

"Watch out for Future Sight." Sawyer muttered as he quickly jot down Ash' advice in his notebook. Meanwhile all the Pokémon were happily munching on the Poképuffs that Serena and Miette made for them. Chespin just finished eating his pokepuff but still had room for more but noticed that almost everyone else was done with theirs and were either relaxing or playing. He then noticed that Pancham still had a Poképuff left and was about to eat it. So before he could put in his mouth used vine whip to grab it out of Pancham hand and was about to eat it himself before Pancham tackled him and tried to grab his Poképuff back. The two started wrestling over the Poképuff which caught the group's attention. Serena and Clemont quickly pulled their respective Pokémon apart.

"Chespin, we've talked about this," Clemont said as he scolded Chespin. "You need to stop being so greedy about the food."

"And Pancham," Serena said as she scolded Pancham. "Tackling Chespin is not the appropriate way to handle the situation. So apologize to Chespin."

"And you apologize to Pancham Chespin and give him back his Poképuff."

After being set back down, both Pokémon walked toward each other and apologized for their action with Chespin giving Pancham his pokepuff back. Realizing he was mostly full, Pancham decided to break the pokepuff in half and gave one to Chespin, much to his excitement.

`"That was a nice thing of you to do Pancham." Serena said as she complemented her Pokémon with him blushing at Serena praise.

"Is it always like this with you guys?" Miette asked Ash.

"Pretty much. Ash replied. He then finished up the rest of his food, stood up and stretch. Man after eating such a great meal I'm ready to train. Miette, are you coming?"

Miette smiled smugly at Serena causing her to blush before replying to Ash question. "Sure Ash I would love to." Miette said. With that Ash and Miette got their Pokémon and headed off to one of the woods to go train

"Man, Ash and Miette have been spending a lot of time together." Korrina commented.

"Well of course, Ash does want to win the tournament." Clemont said not realizing what Korrina meant. The blonde gym leader shook her head bemusedly at Clemont's.

"Man big bro, you can be pretty dense sometimes." Bonnie said with an exasperated tone with Clemont staring at her with a confused expression wondering what she meant by that. Suddenly Korrina got up and stretched out her body and let out a big yawn.

"We should probably get some training in too Clemont." Korrina said with Clemont nodding his head in agreement.

"Sure let me just put this stuff up, and I'll be already to go." Clemont said as he starts to pack stuff up and sent his Pokémon back into his Pokeball's.

"We should do the same thing to Serena." Sawyer said with Serena nodding her head in agreement as she and Sawyer set off with Serena in the lead so they could train in a place that would hide them from Miette and Ash, but allowed her to keep an eye on them.

…

"Bunnelby use Mud Shot, Chespin use Pin Missile, and Luxray use Swift on Lucario!" Clemont ordered. Bunnelby formed mud balls between his ears before throwing them, Chespin launched the spikes from his head in a green stream of light, and Luxray swiped it tail at Lucario while also throwing three dimensional stars at Lucario.

"Lucario, counter those moves with Bone Rush!" Korrina commanded. Lucario puts his paws together and spreads them apart, creating two light white bones of energy and spun the bones to block the attacks. While the combined attacks made Lucario slide backwards a bit he stood his ground and was able to withstand the attacks.

"Wow! Lucario has sure gotten stronger." Clemont told Korrina with great admiration.

"And Lucario has yet to even mega evolved!" Bonnie exclaimed as she and Dedenne watched Clemont and Korrina train.

"Thanks you two, Lucario and I have been training really hard." Korrina explained. "Clemont how about we have a one on one training match? Gym leader vs. Gym leader."

"Sure, I've never battled against another gym leader before," Clemont replied. "Bunnelby, Chespin how about you go guys sit down with Bonnie and watch?" Chespin and Bunnelby nodded their heads in understanding as they ran over to Bonnie and sat on the log with her. Luxray are you ready?"

"Luxray!" Luxray said with determination as he slipped into a fighting pose.

"Lucario let's go! Korrina said as she showed her bracelet with Lucario mega stone. "Unlock the power within! Mega evolve!" White light flowed from Korrina mega stone while orange and purple light enveloped Lucario changing his shape until the light dispersed, revealing Mega Lucario.

"Let's get this battle started!" Clemont said as he prepared to issue Luxray his first command. Luxray use Electric Terrain and then rush in with Thunder Fang!" Electrical energy flowed from Luxray body onto the ground as it lighted up the night sky. He starts to charge toward to Lucario with his mouth sparking with electric energy.

"Lucario, use Power-Up Punch to counter Thunder Fang!" Korrina ordered. Lucario fist glowed with orange energy as he ran up to Luxray and threw a punch but at the same time Luxray, bit down on Lucario's fist. The energy of the two attacks colliding made created an explosion of smoke causing both Pokémon to slide backward due to the force of their attacks.

"Man Clemont's Luxray sure is strong." Korrina said with great respect.

"Thank you Korrina. Clemont said as he accepted Korrina compliment. Lucario strength certainly has grown, but this battle isn't over yet, Luxray use Wild Charge!" Luxray starts to run toward as his body becomes surrounded by electric energy. Korrina told Lucario to stand his ground and block the attack with Bone Rush. Lucario produced two light white bones of energy and made an X shape guard using the bones. Luxray charge into Lucario block. Lucario held his ground for mere seconds before Luxray broke through, throwing the fighting Pokémon back and dealt a huge amount of damage.

"Lucario are you alright?" Korrina asked worriedly. In response to Korrina question Lucario got back on his feet and gave her a thumbs up to show that he was still good to battle which made Korrina smile. She gave Clemont a respectful look. "Man Clemont, I can't believe how strong you and Luxray are. He was able to break through Lucario's defense like it was nothing." Clemont blushed tomato red from the compliment.

"Well, I'm not the gym leader of Luminous City for nothing." Clemont said as he rubbed his head in embarrassment. Meanwhile on the log, Bonnie watched Korrina and Clemont interact. A big smile grew on her face.

"Man, oh man, my big brother and Korrina are perfect for each other. "Bonnie said with enthusiasm to Dedenne, Chespin and Bunnelby. Korrina can help Clemont get in shape and look after him when I'm off on my Pokémon journey, and Clemont can cook for her, and take her on dates, and I would get a cool sister in law, and oh boy, _oh boy_ , I found the perfect wife for my brother. Don't you guys agree?" Dedenne and Chespin nodded their head in agreement. Bunnelby sighed with an exasperated expression on his face, knowing that his trainer wouldn't be marrying anyone anytime soon. _Especially_ with Bonnie trying to play matchmaker

Back on the battlefield Korrina was getting pumped with excitement due to her battle against Clemont. "Me and Lucario aren't done yet! Korrina shouted with determination. Lucario, charge and use Power-Up Punch!" Lucario's fist glowed with an orange aura as Clemont quickly ordered Luxray to counter it with Thunder Fang. As the two Pokémon charged toward each other they suddenly stiffened, stopping mid run before quickly leaping backwards as a beam of black and dark purple circles decimated the spot they had been standing at mere moments before.

"What was that?" Clemont asked in shocked.

"Look, up there!" Korrina pointed out. Clemont, Bonnie, and the rest of the Pokémon looked up and saw a Meowth shaped balloon floating down with Jessie, James, Meowth, Wobuffet, and Gourgeist controlling it.

"Prepare for trouble~." Jessie began.

"And make it double~." James continued.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evil of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth. That's right!"

"Wobuffet!"

"Team Rocket! Clemont shouted. What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, we were in the middle of a battle!" Korrina shouted in annoyance.

"Oh don't worry we will be out of your hair soon." Jessie said with a hint of manic glee.

"Let us just grab your Lucario and mega stone and we'll be happily on our way." As James said this he pressed a button on the hot air balloon controls. Two huge mechanical arms unfolded from the hatch underneath the hot air balloon, grabbing Korrina and her Lucario before they could react.

"Korrina!" Clemont and Bonnie exclaimed simultaneously.

"Let us go!" Korrina shouted as the Gym Leader and her partner struggled to escape their confinement with no avail. All the while, Team Rocket's hot air balloon was slowly backing away into the sky.

"Oh, we will you let you go, skater twerp," Meowth said with a smile. "If you give us your mega stone."

"No way!" Korrina snapped as she continued with all her might to escape from the mechanical arm's grasp.

"Clemont, you've got to do something!" Bonnie cried worriedly as she, Bunnelby, and Dedenne ran up to him.

"I can't risk attacking them with Korrina and Lucario in the line of fire." Clemont said, thinking out-loud. His eyes widened as the plan came together. The inventor pushed up his glasses, with the moonlight glinting off the lens. "But I had a feeling we would encounter a situation just like this. The future is now thanks to science, Clemontic gear on!" Clemont then pulled out a black game controller that had two joysticks on both sides and multiple color coded buttons with a small satellite dish sticking out of the top. I call it the "Taking control of Team Rocket machines and using it against them controller!" By using this device I can easily take control of Team rocket machine which prevent them from using it.

"Hey if you going to use our name in an invention, at least make the name of the invention sound cool!" Meowth shouted in anger at the lousy name.

"You really do need to work on giving better names to your inventions." Bonnie added dryly.

"Ignoring the criticism of his naming skills, Clemont started moving the joysticks and pressing buttons causing Team Rocket hot air balloon to stop and slowly bringing it back to the ground.

"Oh no, the twerp invention is actually working!" James said in worriment.

"Meowth, do something!" Jessie shouted at Meowth causing him to grit his teeth in annoyance.

"Don't get your hair in a twist I got this." Meowth said as he typed on the control panel of the hot air balloon to try to counter the commands Clemont was sending. Due to the hot air balloon getting multiple commands from two sources it kept on going up and down very quickly while also causing the arms to spin making Lucario and Korrina dizzy.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Korrina said as she felt her stomach going up and down like a rollercoaster with Lucario nodding his head in agreement.

"Clemont keep it up, your invention is working!" Bonnie shouted in excitement. Sadly however the universe seemed to have other plans as the controller started beeping faster and faster. Knowing what was about to happen next, Bunnelby quickly jumped and grabbed the controller out of Clemont hand with his ears, and threw the controller at Team Rocket.

The controller landed soundly on the hot air balloons control booth, exploding on impact. As the robotic arms let go of Korrina and Lucario from the hot air balloon, the remains of the hot air balloon and team rocket were flying off in the night sky.

"You know when something explodes; it's usually one of our machines or devices." James pointed out.

"Just one of these times I would like to win, is that so much to ask for?" Jessie asked Meowth and James.

"Apparently so considering our track record at actually winning is still at zero. Meowth pointed out dryly.

"Wobuffet!" Wobuffet said in agreement.

"Look like Team Rocket is blasting off again!" Meowth, Jessie, and James said in union.

Meanwhile Korrina and Lucario were quickly falling down from the sky. Thinking quickly on his feet, Clemont ran toward them and threw his book bag which then inflated into a huge cushion to break their fall. While Lucario landed on it with no problem, Korrina bounced off the cushion and ended up crashing into Clemont, fell on his back. As he blinked his eyes in pain he realized that Korrina was lying on top of him and his and Korrina faces were both very, _very_ close to each other. Realizing their awkward position, both gym leaders quickly got up on their feet, flushing into identical shades of red in embarrassment. Bonnie had a wide grin on her face, stretching from ear to ear, as she quickly ran up to them seeing their encounter.

"Oh man Clemont, your invention blowing up actually helped us out!" Bonnie said full of pride. " _Saaay_ , Korrina isn't my big brother amazing?"

Korrina was still blushing as she rubbed her head in embarrassment, trying to wipe away the image of Clemont's face, practically pressed up against her own face. "Um yeah, thanks Clemont, you really helped Lucario and me out."

Clemont laughed nervously, still scarlet-faced from what had just happened. "Um, it was no problem, but the credit goes to Bunnelby, he was the one who threw my invention to stop Team Rocket. You did great, thinking on your feet like that Bunnelby."

"Bunnelby." Bunnelby said as he rubbed his cheeks in embarrassment from Clemont praise.

Korrina then ran over to the cushion that Lucario landed on. "Lucario, are you okay?"

"Lucario," Lucario said as he gave his trainer a toothy smile and a thumb up before he reverted back to his normal form.

"Well I think that enough excitement for one night, we should get a good night sleep for our battle tomorrow. Korrina said as she and Lucario started running off to the tournament hotel. "Have a good night everyone."

"Um, goodnight Korrina." Clemont said as he waved goodbye. Once she was out of view he let out a deep sigh and sat down from exhaustion. He then noticed that Bonnie was giving him a really big smile. "Um Bonnie, why are you giving me that look?"

"Oh nothing." Bonnie said teasingly. "Just thinking about how cute you and Korrina are together."

Clemont blushed at Bonnie comment and quickly got on his feet. "Bonnie please, don't do anything crazy or embarrassing." Bonnie simply just smiled even bigger at Clemont reaction.

"No promises." Bonnie said teasingly, causing Clemont to groan in embarrassment.

…

"Grovyle return," Sawyer said as his Pokeball sucked Grovyle back into his Pokeball. Thanks for the training session Serena, it was really helpful."

"No problem Sawyer, I want to win this tournament too." Serena said with a smile.

"Well I'm heading off to bed, have a goodnight Serena." Sawyer said as he walked off toward the tournament hotel. Serena was on her way to bed too when she saw a purple beam of energy shooting up in the night sky nearby. Deciding to investigate, she made her way to the place she saw the beam and saw Ash Pikachu, Hawlucha, and Talonflame out along with Miette's Slurpuff and Meowstic.

"Slurpuff use Energy Ball, Meowstic use Psyshock!" Miette ordered as Slurpuff summoned three small green balls of energy while Meowstic formed a purple orb of energy in its hand and fired three dark purple beams from the orb.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt as a counter shield, Talonflame and Hawlucha dodge!" Ash ordered. Pikachu spun on the ground creating a field or energy that. The Energy Ball technique explodes as it as it made contact with the impromptu shield. At the same time Talonflame and Hawlucha gracefully dodged Psyshock. "Good job guys, you did great, though I think we done enough training for tonight, so come on and return. Ash brought out his Pokeballs and returning his companions into them as Miette did the same with her Slurpuff, and Meowstic. I'm going to hit the hay Miette, come on Pikachu." Ash said as Pikachu quickly hopped up on his shoulder.

"Want some company?" Miette asked eagerly causing Serena to scowl at her from her hiding spot.

"Sure." Ash said cheerfully as Miette walked with him with Serena tailing them in secret.

"So Ash, how did you come up with that counter shield technique? Miette asked. "Did you just think of it on the spot?"

"Nah, I actually came up with that move during my adventures in the Sinnoh region." Ash explained. "That technique has helped me out in a lot of tough spots."

"Cool." Miette said. "So what exactly do you plan to do once you win the Kalos league Ash?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean if you win the Kalos league what are you going to do next?"

"Huh, I never really thought about it." Ash said. "I mean I've never won a league before, the closest I ever gotten was in the top four in the Sinnoh league, and a lost to a strong trainer called Tobias who owned a Darkrai and Latios. Usually I'll go to a region I haven't been to yet, and try to win the league there. It never really crossed my mind on what I would do if I actually won a league."

"Would you leave the Kalos league if you won or stay?" Miette asked.

"I mean, I guess I'll just have to see what happens." Ash said as he looked up at the constellations.

"Well would you stay if Serena became the Kalos Queen?" Miette asked. This caused Serena to prevent herself from running from her hiding spot to cover Miette mouth. "I mean if you end up winning the league, and Serena becomes Kalos Queen, would you have any reasons to leave?"

"I mean, it would be great if both me and Serena accomplish our goals, but after that I guess I could either stay in Kalos, or maybe I can travel some more." Ash said.

"Would you ask Serena to come with you, even if she became Kalos Queen?" Miette asked.

Ash smiled at Miette question. "I mean, I would miss Serena, she's a great friend, and I would miss her company, but I could never ask her to give up her dream for me."

"Oh Ash." Serena said as she felt her eyes get teary at Ash comment. It was moments like these that made her admire Ash all the more. She leaned back, so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice a dry twig underfoot until it snapped. "!"

"Did you hear something?" Ash asked Miette as they looked around to see where the noise had come from. Serena held her breath in fear she sat as quietly as possible. The last thing she wanted was trying to explain why she was spying on them.

"Must have been a Pokémon," Miette decided as they kept on walking. They soon made it to the sleeping quarters. "Well it was nice talking to you; we better get some sleep if we want to win our battle tomorrow.

"Right, "Ash agreed with a slight nod. However to both Ash and Serena's surprise, Miette gave Ash a quick hug before heading off into the hotel. Serena chewed at her shirt in frustration, mulling over what Miette had just done. She really would need to confront Ash about her feelings for him before Miette tried to take him away from her. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. She just needed to get a good night's sleep and worry about her battle tomorrow.


	3. Sparks Fly!

**Hey everyone, here's chapter three, I hope you enjoy it XD.**

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to day two of the Plawer tag team tournament!" The mayor said loudly into his microphone. The audience cheers in excitement as the stadium cameras panned down onto the four trainers on the field. Clemont and Korrina were facing off against two men in martial artist clothing, one sporting a black belt, and the other, a red belt. "Now, let the first matches of today's battles commence!"

"Poliwrath, prepare for battle!" The black belt shouted as he threw his Pokeball onto the field with a Poliwrath coming out of the Pokeball in a flash of light.

"Machoke, come on out!" The red belt shouted as he threw out his Pokeball onto the field with a Machoke coming out of the Pokeball in a flash of light.

"A Poliwrath huh, well in that case…" Clemont muttered as he selected his Pokeball. "Chespin I choose you!" Clemont said as he threw out his Pokeball with Chespin coming out in a flash of white light.

"Chespin!" Chespin shouted in excitement.

"Lucario you're up." Korrina said to Lucario who jumped onto the battlefield.

"Let the battle begin!" The referee shouted.

"Machoke use Fire Punch on Lucario!" The red belt martial artist ordered. Machoke's fist erupted with flame as it charged towards Lucario.

"Poliwrath use Dynamic Punch on Chespin!" The black belt martial artist ordered. Poliwrath starts to charge towards Chespin with its own fist glowing white.

"Lucario counter Fire Punch with Power-Up Punch!" Korrina shouted. Lucario fist flashed orange just before it made contact with Machoke Fire Punch, causing both Pokémon to slide backwards due to the force of their attacks.

At the same time, just before Poliwrath could land a hit on Chespin, Clemont ordered Chespin to jump and use Vine Whip on Poliwrath. Two vines came from Chespin back and slapped Poliwrath back, sending it tumbling through the air, before landing squarely its feet. The fighting Pokémon smashed its fists together in determination. " _Poli!"_

"That's the spirit Poliwrath!" The black belt martial artist said with praise. "Now attack Chespin with Ice Beam!" An icy blue ball forms in Poliwrath's hands. The ball then moves forward and released a light blue beam of energy that landed a direct hit on Chespin, causing him to fly backwards before crashing into the ground.

"Chespin are you okay?" Clemont asks worryingly. Since Chespin was a grass type Pokémon, ice type moves were super effective. He wasn't sure if Chespin could still continue battling. He was however, proven wrong when Chespin slowly got back on his feet and showed that he was still willing to fight. Leafy green energy glowed off the grass Pokémon. "Chespin, your Overgrow ability is kicking in!" Now all of Chespin grass type moves would be even more powerful. The only downside was that Chespin couldn't afford to take another major hit. Meanwhile, Korrina realized that their opponents were very tough, and decided that there was no point in holding back.

"Lucario let's go! Korrina said as she showed her bracelet with Lucario mega stone. "Unlock the power within! Mega evolve!" White light flowed from Korrina's Mega Stone while orange and purple light enveloped Lucario, changing his shape until the light dispersed, revealing Mega Lucario. "Now use Metal Sound!" Lucario banged his spikes together, creating a metal sound wave that made Poliwrath and Machoke slide backward due to the sheer force "Now their Special Defense will be lowered!" Korrina then told Lucario to use Bone Rush on Machoke. Lucario produced two light white bones of energy and moved so fast that neither Machoke nor his trainer had any time to react before Lucario started to hit him repeatedly with Bone Rush, careful not give Machoke an opening to perform a counter attack. The final hit was a critical one, ending the combo with such force that Machoke was literally sent crashing into the wall.

"Now Chespin use Pin Missiles around Poliwrath!" The spikes on Chespin's head stiffen and glow white. He then fires white orbs trailing green streams of light at Poliwrath. While Pin Missiles didn't do a lot of damage to Poliwrath, being a bug type move, it did knock up a lot of dust, clouding Poliwrath's vision. This gave the chance for Clemont to tell Chespin to use Vine Whip on Poliwrath. Two vines lashed out from Chespin's back, whipping Poliwrath repeatedly back and forth before the attack finally sent him flying backwards and crashing into the ground.

"Poliwrath and Machoke are unable to battle. The referee announced. The winners are Chespin and Lucario!"

"Chespin!" Chespin shouted in excitement as he was glad that he and Lucario won the battle. Chespin wasn't the only one who was excited as Korrina turned to Clemont and grabbed his hands and gave him a big smile.

"We're in the final four now Clemont!" Korrina said excitedly. "If we keep this up we are definitely going to win this tournament."

"Y-Yeah." Clemont stuttered nervously as he gave Korrina a shy smile. He was having a great time battling with her and he agreed with her that they could probably win the tournament, but he was feeling really embarrassed holding Korrina hand. Remembering how close their faces were just the other night _certainly_ didn't help. Meanwhile in the seats, Ash, Pikachu, Serena, Miette, and Sawyer were amazed at how fast the battle ended.

"Man I know Korrina and Clemont are strong gym leaders, but when they work together they are a pretty strong tag team!" Sawyer said in amazement.

"Yeah, Miette, and I will be facing them tomorrow once we win our match." Ash commented. If he knew Clemont as well he thought he did, Clemont would probably use his Luxray. Combine that with Korrina's Lucario, and Ash knew for a fact that his and Miette's battle against them definitely wasn't going to be easy. He was suddenly interrupted when he saw Serena gave him a smile.

"Don't worry Ash; I know you and Miette can beat Clemont and Korrina." Serena commented as she continued to give him a warm smile. "If you were able to beat them once, you can beat them again."

"Thanks Serena that means a lot." Ash said causing Serena to blush. Sadly however the moment was ruined for Serena when Miette started talking.

"Yeah Ash, don't worry we can spend all night training for our battle, just the _two_ of us." Miette said as she winked at Serena playfully. All Serena could do to avoid making a scene was to grit her teeth in frustration at Miette constantly putting the moves on Ash in front of her face.

…

The matches for Ash and Miette and Serena and Sawyer ended just as quickly as Clemont's and Korrina's.

Ash and Miette used Hawlucha and Meowstic to battle against a Crawdaunt and Pyroar. Due to Hawlucha speed and his fighting type moves he quickly took down Pyroar with Meowstic taking down Crawdaunt with a critical hit of Psyshock.

Serena and Sawyer used Braixen and Grovyle against Toxicroak and Scyther. Even though Toxicroak and Scyther were really fast, they were no match for Grovyle speed and a powerful flamethrower from Braixen. After their battle, the remaining four tag teams were gathered around in the stadium as the mayor prepared to give an important announcement.

"Congratulations to you all, you have proven your worth and have made it to the semi-finals!" The mayor shouted with excitement. "However this year, we have decided to do something a little different for the tournament. The original matches will now be randomized, so the opponents that you would have originally faced will now be someone else!" The mayor announcement made Serena to worry. What if she had to battle against Ash? Sure, she figured she may have ended up battling against Ash sooner or later, but she never even had a battle with her crush before. What if he got upset if she beat him? She knows Ash was better than that, and he would just tell her she deserved the win, but that didn't make her feel any better. Absorbed in her thoughts, Serena didn't even notice that Sawyer had begun talking to her.

"Serena, can you hear me?" Sawyer asked in confusion. He had called her name several times and had yet to receive a response from her.

"Oh, um, sorry Sawyer I was just thinking about something." Serena said. "What were you saying?"

"Look who our opponents are going to be!" Sawyer exclaimed as he pointed at the tournament screen. Serena looked and much to her shock saw that she and Sawyer would be facing off against Clemont and Korrina! She was so focused on battling against Miette and Ash she never even thought that she and Sawyer would be facing Korrina and Clemont.

"Look like we'll be battling against you two tomorrow." Clemont said as he, Bonnie, and Korrina approached Serena and Sawyer.

"I guess we will." Sawyer said with excitement. Even though he knew Korrina and Clemont were strong, he believed that he and Serena could beat them.

"So that means Ash and I will be facing one of you after we win our match tomorrow." Miette said.

"Well, let the best teams win." Korrina said.

"Sounds good to me." Ash agreed.

…

A couple of hours later Serena and Sawyer were finishing up a practice match between her Braixen and his Grovyle.

"Braixen use Flamethrower on Grovyle!" Serena ordered. A huge stream of fire came from Braixen stick and headed toward Grovyle only for him to jump high into the air.

"Grovyle use Bullet Seed!" Sawyer ordered. Grovyle spat glowing green seeds from his mouth, aimed at Braixen only for her to roll out of the way of the incoming attack. Grovyle dropped to one knee, breathing heavily due to the intense training he and Braixen have been doing for the past hour.

"Great job Grovyle!" Sawyer said to his Pokémon. "You are getting faster every day; Lucario won't even be able to land a hit on you because of how fast you are now."

"Gro….vyle….." Grovyle heaved, giving his trainer a confident smile.

"You are doing a great job too Braixen." Serena said to her Pokémon. "I can't wait till we show off your skills at our next Pokémon showcase.

"Braixen." Braixen said happily as she flashed her trainer a charming grin.

"I think we've done enough training for tonight." Sawyer said as he returned Grovyle back to his Pokeball and started to make his way off to the tournament hotel. "I'm going to go ahead and get ready for the match tomorrow. Goodnight Serena."

"Goodnight Sawyer," Serena said as she saw Sawyer walk away. She turned to her Braixen and smiled at her. "You did well today Braixen, you deserve a good rest. She then returned Braixen in her Pokeball and started to go for a walk. She wasn't tired enough to go to sleep so she figured she could take a walk and just clear her thoughts. _Hard to imagine I'm so far away from home, competing in a tournament and currently battling in the semifinals. It feels just like just yesterday I was living with my mom and learning how to ride Ryhorn. Now I'm traveling with my childhood crush and two amazing new friends._ Serena saw a bench near a lamppost and decided to take a seat. From her current spot she could see the stars in beautiful night sky. She took a deep breath, wishing that Ash was with her now so she could spend this beautiful night with him.

"Wha-cha doing'?" A familiar voice said in Serena voice causing her to jump in fear since the voice came out of nowhere, She turned around to see it was Miette who laughing at Serena reaction.

"Miette, that's not funny!" Serena shouted as she felt her heart beating. You scared living daylights out of me! "

"Relax I just wanted to talk to you." Miette said as she took a seat on the bench. Wondering what she wanted to talk about Serena decided to take a seat on the bench with her.

"Are you done training with Ash already?" Serena asked. She figured Miette would be spending all night with Ash so she could rub it in her face some more.

"Yeah, Ash and I trained some more, but he decided to go to bed early so he could be well rested for our match tomorrow." Miette explained. "But man, Ash has one heck of an appetite; I think he eats as much as a Snorlax." Serena laughed, knowing firsthand how much Ash could eat in a single helping. You know, I see why you like Ash so much. He's a pretty great guy, a bit dense, but great all the same."

"Um, wh-what do you mean?" Serena asked as she tried to act like she didn't know what she was talking about.

Miette raised her eyebrow at Serena trying to act like she didn't know what she was talking about. "Come on Serena, we both know what I'm talking about." Miette said causing Serena to blush even more in embarrassment. "It's pretty obvious that you have a thing for Ash. I understand why you like him though He has such an upbeat personality, and is always willing to help. You can't help but feel good being around him." Serena kept silent she didn't trust herself on what she would say next. So far everything that Miette just said was totally true but Serena refused to admit it out loud. "I'm just saying, you are pretty lucky to be traveling with a great guy like Ash."

"Um thanks." Serena said hesitantly. She had no idea why Miette was telling her all of this.

"If I were you, I would tell him how I feel for him before someone else takes him away." Miette teased as she got off the bench and left. "See you tomorrow and good luck with your match." Serena watched Miette disappear in sight and took a deep breath. As much as she hated to admit it Miette did have a point. If she didn't confront Ash about her feelings for him either Miette or someone else in the future would beat her to it. She took another deep breath and promised herself that she would confront Ash about her feelings tomorrow after the tournament.

…

"So wait, Clemont graduated from the electric academy when you were just a kid?" Korrina asked Bonnie in amazement. "I knew he was smart, but I didn't know that he was that smart!" Clemont rubbed his head in embarrassment at Korrina praise while Bonnie nodded her head esthetically.

"Yeah my brother is a real genius!" Bonnie said gleefully.

"Oh, it was nothing really; I'm sure plenty of other kids graduated from a prestigious school at a young age too." Clemont said in a joking manner. After he and Korrina did some training, Bonnie proposed that they all go on a walk together. Before Clemont could protest anything Korrina said that sounded like a great idea. Not wanting to stomp on her enthusiasm, Clemont decided to just go with the flow. Right now they were walking in the park with lampposts lighting up the path.

"So, Clemont do you have any ideas for your next big invention?" Korrina asked.

"I currently have designs for several possible inventions that I could build that would benefit Luminous City and all of Kalos." Clemont explained. "But they're all at my gym. Regardless of that I'm constantly thinking of new inventions that can be used in everyday life."

"Now if you just stop your inventions from exploding ninety-nine percent of the time, they'd be perfect," Bonnie said jokingly. Korrina laughed at Bonnie comment and Clemont breathed a sigh in embarrassment. As they were about to walk past a bench they suddenly heard a noise coming from the woods and turned around only to see it was a couple of Zigzagoons playing with each other a couple of feet from them.

"Wow, Zigzagoons!" Bonnie said in excitement. "Clemont can Dedenne and I please play with them? _Please!_ " Clemont smiled down at his sister's eager face.

"Go ahead, but please be safe okay." Clemont told Bonnie as she and Dedenne quickly ran over to the Zigzagoons. He then turned to Korrina gestured at the bench near them. "Why don't we take a seat while we wait for Bonnie until she's finished? Korrina nodded in agreement as they took a seat on the bench.

"You know Clemont; you are a really great brother to Bonnie," Korrina remarked. Clemont looked down at the ground, blinking in embarrassment. "I've never met a pair of siblings who are so close with each other."

"It's nothing really," Clemont said humbly. "Bonnie and I have always been close ever since she was born. Though trust me, we don't always get along. Even though I love her with all my heart I get really embarrassed every time she goes up to a random girl and asks them to marry me. Seriously, if I had a Poke dollar for every time she has done that I would probably be….well, not quite a millionaire, but close."

Korrina giggled. "Does it embarrass you because you are shy around pretty girls? She asked playfully as she gave Clemont a teasing smile that made Clemont blushed as red as a tomato.

"Wh-what? No of course not!" Clemont stuttered as Korrina laughed. She actually thought Clemont looked pretty cute when he acted all nervous like that. "I just don't like it because Bonnie does it with almost every girl while not even asking my opinion on the girl, and see what I have to say about it."

"So what type of girls do you like?" Korrina asked curiously. She had no idea exactly why she was asking Clemont this, she just wanted to know.

"Geez, um, I never really gave it that much thought." Clemont said thoughtfully. Truth be told he was always so busy thinking up of new inventions, and stopping Bonnie from asking every girl to marry her, that he never thought what kind of girl he would like to date, or even marry one day. "Well I know she would have to kind, be fun to hang around with, wouldn't mind most of my inventions exploding, and generally speaking, a wonderful person."

"Well I'm sure you'll find someone like that one of these days." Korrina said to Clemont with a smile. "Who wouldn't want to be with a great guy like you?" She then placed her hand on top of Clemont's and gave it a reassuring squeeze, much to his surprise as he looked at her, eyes wide. For some strange reason as he gazed at Korrina's face, he could feel his heart beating really fast. _Why does it feel like my heart is about to burst?_ Clemont thought to himself as he continued to look at Korrina beautiful face. _Wait, did I just call her beautiful? Where did_ that _come from?_ He suddenly felt his face slowly leaning toward Korrina with Korrina doing the same. _What are we doing? Are we about to kiss? Sweet Arceus, I never even held hands with a girl, let alone kiss her. What the heck is going on?_ Before their faces could get any closer they both heard Bonnie give a high pitch scream making them both jump up and reached for their Pokeball's thinking it was Team Rocket who were launching another attack. Much to their relief, Bonnie wasn't yelling because of Team Rocket but rather, because the Zigzagoons were all nuzzling against her making her laugh in delight.

"Come on you guys cut it out!" Bonnie shrieked happily. "I'm really ticklish!" Seeing that Bonnie was safe Clemont relaxed knowing that his little sister was okay. He looked down and realized that he and Korrina were still holding hands. They looked at each other before quickly releasing each other hands while looking away from each other in embarrassment.

 _Did I almost kiss Korrina?_ Clemont thought to himself in confusion.

 _Did I almost kiss Clemont?_ Korrina thought to herself in confusion.

Realizing that it was getting late, and he needed to think over what just happened he called Bonnie name to come on over much to her displeasure. "Bye, I hope you have a good night." Bonnie said to the Zigzagoons as she and Dedenne left. She then noticed that Clemont and Korrina were blushing slightly. "Is everything okay with you two? You seemed embarrassed about something.

"What? What would we be embarrassed about?" Clemont said hastily.

"Yeah we were just sitting on the bench, that's all; we didn't do anything but talk." Korrina quickly added. Bonnie raised a skeptical eyebrow at Clemont and Korrina but decided not to ask any more questions about why the two were equal shades of beet-red. They soon made their way to the tournament hotel with them going to their separate rooms with both gym leaders falling on top of their beds.

"What is going on with me?" Korrina asked out loud to herself. "Why did I almost kiss Clemont? Sure Clemont is a great guy, he's a wonderful cook, a strong trainer, he is really cute when he get's and nervous, and-. Korrina stopped as she realized what was happening. Oh man, I have a crush on Clemont." Meanwhile Clemont was thinking similar great things about Korrina in his bedroom. Though he was having a hard time concentrating with Bonnie bombarding him with a million questions.

"What happened between you two? What were you talking about? Were you talking about going on a date? Are you going to marry her?" Bonnie asked esthetically. If Clemont and Korrina were growing closer then this was great news for her. She could rest easy knowing that when she turned ten and started her own Pokémon adventure, that her brother would have someone to take care of him.

"Bonnie, could you please just go to bed?" Clemont asked his sister as he picked her up, practically dropping her on the bed. "I'm going to need to have a good night's sleep for my battle tomorrow."

"Fine, but we are going to talk more about what's happening between you and Korrina tomorrow." Bonnie said as she grabbed her pajamas and went to the bathroom to change. Clemont sighed to himself as he thought more about Korrina. He wasn't sure what was more shocking, the fact that he'd almost kissed Korrina, or that Korrina had tried to kiss him. He rubbed his temples as he tried to get his thoughts in order. He would just have to talk to Korrina about what happened and see what was going on between them. He soon changed into his sleepwear and got in the bed at the same time Bonnie exit out of the bathroom in her pajamas and jumped into her bed.

"Goodnight Clemont, love you." Bonnie said as she got comfortable underneath her blankets.

"Goodnight Bonnie, I love you too." Clemont said as he took off his glasses and put them on the nightstand while also turning off the light.

 **Whew, I'm finally done with chapter three. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and don't worry, chapter four will be more battle oriented. Till next time, have a good day and please leave a review.**


	4. The Grand Finale

**Hey everyone, sorry I took so long with this chapter, I've been really busy with school. Luckily though I'm finally on Summer Vacation so expect more great stories from me XD.**

The sun was rising in a beautiful orange glow signifying the beginning of a new day as its light touched upon the Kalos region. The Fletching's were emerging from the trees, flying around the sky and Floette's were traveling overhead on a gentle breeze while spreading pollen throughout the forest. Clemont was watching all of this from the hotel balcony outside of his room as he thought about the events from last night. He couldn't believe that he and Korrina almost kissed. Sure he always liked Korrina, but he never really thought of her like this until their past two days of being together. He sighed as he continued to gaze at the sun rising. He could handle fixing and creating amazing piece of machinery but couldn't for the life of him figure out how to solve this equation dealing with Korrina. He would ask Bonnie for advice, but seeing as how he was the older sibling; it would be embarrassing for asking his younger sister for advice. He could ask Serena, she would probably know what to do but it would feel weird asking her for girl advice. Ash was definitely out of the question, by now, Clemont had gleaned that he was completely oblivious when it comes to matters of the heart. Clemont suddenly heard the door open behind him and saw Korrina looking at him with embarrassment glazed on her face.

"Um, good morning Clemont," Korrina said shyly as she walked out onto the balcony with him and leaned against the railing.

"Oh, uh, good morning Korrina," Clemont said to her as he felt his face starting to blush before looking at the sun rise some more. He had no idea what he should do. Should he mention what happened last night or wait for her to bring it up? He sighed mentally, wishing Bonnie was with him since she knew more about this stuff than him.

"So about last night," Korrina said hesitantly as she looked at the sunrise with Clemont.

"Um yeah, last night, was, yeah," Clemont stuttered as he felt his face starting to warm up as he thought about what had almost happened between them. The two stayed quiet as neither one knew what to say. The awkwardness growing with each second. Realizing she couldn't take the silence anymore, Korrina decided to break the tension.

"So Clemont, what exactly made you decide to go on a journey with Ash instead of staying in Luminouse city in order to work on your inventions?" Korrina asked curiously as she hoped to break the ice. Clemont looked at Korrina, surprised at the question, before smiling and looking back toward the sun.

"Well…, because Ash inspired me to want to travel to him," Clemont says as he thought about how he and Bonnie first met Ash and Pikachu when they were kicked out of his gym by Clembot. "His determination of becoming stronger and winning the Kalos league inspired me to become a stronger gym leader. So when the time came for me and Ash to battle I had a plan taking into account all of Ash possible strategies. Despite all my careful planning I couldn't predict his improvised tactics and Ash ended up beating me. Even though I may have lost, my gym battle with Ash was the most exciting gym battle I ever had. I felt my heart beating faster and faster with each move we made against each other. My battle with Ash has taught me to think outside the box when battling and has started to make me into a stronger gym leader."

"Wow that's amazing Clemont," Korrina said in wonder. "I understand how you feel; when I battled Ash he pulled off some amazing strategies like countering Bone Rush with Iron Tail. I guess all gym leaders love to feel during our battles with challengers, we want to feel like we are being challenged and are surprised by our challenger tactics."

"Spoken like a true gym leader," Clemont said. Korrina blushed from his compliment. "Korrina, um, I'm sorry for what I did last night." Korrina looked at Clemont, bewildered.

"What? No! I'm the one who should be sorry; I was trying to kiss you!" Korrina said in embarrassment as she felt her face get hotter due to their conversation. They stared at each other in confusion before they both started to laugh over what was happening.

"Oh my goodness, why are we acting so weird?" Clemont asked after he stopped laughing over the awkwardness of the situation.

"I have no idea." Korrina replied honestly as she wiped away tears that had welled up from laughing so much. "Why are we freaking out over this?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Clemont answered honestly as he turned and smiled at Korrina. "Maybe we're just over thinking what almost happened last night."

"We probably are," Korrina agreed, returning Clemont's smile. "I mean all we did was almost kiss each other."

"Yeah, we did almost kiss, didn't we?" Clemont asked as his mind wandered once more to last night. "Korrina, about last night, I know you say that it was your fault but-." Clemont stopped talking when he felt Korrina hand on top of his on the balcony railing and saw Korrina smiling at him.

"Clemont, neither of us have anything to apologize for," Korrina explained. "I mean in the end we both tried to kiss each other, so it's no one's fault. Look, over the past two days I have had an amazing time hanging out with you Clemont. You are an amazing gym leader, tag team partner, cook, friend, and I couldn't ask for a better partner for this tournament than you. So how about we worry about what happening between us later on and just focus on winning this tournament okay?" Clemont looked at Korrina in amazement before giving her a big goofy smile, nodding his head in agreement. The two continued to smile at one another before turning their heads to watch the sunrise together.

…

Serena looked at herself in the mirror to make sure that she looked presentable. Her hair was brushed, her hat was perfectly placed, and the ribbon Ash gave her. She took a deep breath and tried to relax herself. Today was the day she was going to tell Ash her feelings. But before she could do that she'll have to beat Clemont and Korrina in order to face Ash and Miette.

…

It was almost high noon and the stadium was jam packed as the audience anxiously waited for the tournament to continue. The mayor stepped up onto the podium and began to talk. "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the third and final day of the Plawer tag team tournament!" The mayor said loudly into his microphone. The audience cheers in excitement as the tag team partners consisting of Clemont and Korrina and Serena and Sawyer walked out onto the field.  
"Let's win this match Clemont!" Korrina said in determination with Clemont nodding his head.

"Are you ready for this Sawyer?" Serena asked with Sawyer nodding his head.

"You know it Serena!"

"Let the battle begin!" The referee announced as everyone threw out their Pok _é_ balls onto the field. Korrina choose Lucario, Clemont choose Luxray, Serena chooses Braixen, and Sawyer choose Grovyle.

Not wanting to take any chance against them, she decides to play her Ace card. "Lucario let's go!" Korrina said as she showed her bracelet with Lucario mega stone. "Unlock the power within! Mega evolve!" White light flowed from Korrina's Mega Stone while orange and purple light enveloped Lucario, changing his shape until the light dispersed, revealing Mega Lucario. Now use Metal Sound!" Lucario banged his spikes together, creating a sound wave that made Grovyle and Braixen slide backward due to the sheer force of the attack while also lowering their special defenses.

"Luxray use Swift!" Clemont ordered. Luxray jumps into the air and its tail glows yellow. It then swings its tail, releasing multiple yellow stars with golden sparkles around them from its tail at Grovyle and Braixen with them taking a direct hit.

"Braixen use Flamethrower on Lucario!" Serena ordered as Braixen sent out a stream of fire from her branch and shot it at Lucario while at the same time Sawyer told Grovyle to use Leaf Blade on Luxray.

"Lucario stop Flamethrower with Aura Sphere!" Korrina ordered. Lucario formed a ball of blue energy before launching it at the flamethrower with the impact creating a shower of blue and red sparks. At the same time Grovyle was about to land a hit on Luxray only for Clemont to tell Luxray to use Thunder Fang to intercept the attack and stopping Grovyle in his tracks. Before Clemont could issue a command however Sawyer told Grovyle to use Bullet Seed on Luxray. Grovyle rapidly fired glowing yellow seeds at Luxray in close range forcing Luxray to release his grip and thrown backward due to the force of Bullet Seed.

"Lucario, use Bone Rush on Braixen!" Korrina ordered. Lucario puts his paws together and spreads them apart, creating two light white bones of energy and ran up to Braixen only for Serena to tell her to use Flamethrower on Lucario. Braixen shot forth a stream of fire at Lucario, who spun his energy bones to protect himself as he slowly made his way against the stream of fire.

"Serena tell Braixen to stop the flamethrower and retreat," Sawyer told Serena. Deciding to trust whatever Sawyer had planned; Serena relayed the order to Braixen. Seeing that Braixen was now open Korrina told Lucario to use Bone Rush on Braixen once more. Sawyer smiled; he had hoping Korrina would do that.

"Grovyle use Quick Attack and Leaf Blade to intercept Lucario!" Sawyer ordered. Grovyle dashed forward, trailing light behind him and stopped in front of Lucario blocking Bone Rush with his leaf blades.

"Whoa ladies and gentlemen! That Grovyle's speed is uncanny!" The mayor said in amazement.

"Serena I'll take care of Lucario, you take care of Luxray." Sawyer said to Serena who nodded her head in agreement.

"Braixen run up to Luxray and use Fire Blast!" Serena ordered as Braixen ran toward Luxray releases a 大-shaped fiery blast from its stick at Luxray while at the same time Grovyle Leaf Blade and Lucario Bone Rush clashed against each other like a sword fight. As Fire Blast headed toward Luxray Clemont told Luxray to use Electric Terrain followed up by Wild Charge. Electricity dispersed from Luxray body onto the field causing it to spark with electricity. Luxray start to charge at Fire Blast while also being enveloped in electricity and tore through Fire Blast easily, making contact with Braixen and knocking her into the air before she crashed into the ground some distance away.

"Braxien!" Serena cried as she saw her Pokémon struggling to get back on her feet. At the same time, Lucario and Grovyle were still dueling against each other. Bone Rush and Leaf Blade clashed as if the two Pokémon were sword fighters.

"Lucario jump back and use Aura Sphere on Grovyle!" Korrina ordered. Lucario gave up his attack on Grovyle and jump a couple of steps back while forming a ball of blue energy in his hands before throwing it at Grovyle only for Sawyer to tell Grovyle to use Bullet Seed to stop Aura Sphere. Grovyle shot yellow seeds rapidly from its mouth at Aura Sphere which created an explosion of smoke that covered the field. Korrina smiled; thanks to the cover she could make a counterattack.

"Lucario use Power Up-Punch!" Korrina ordered. Lucario fist glowed with orange energy and went into the smoke cloud.

"Grovyle stay sharp!" Sawyer warned. Grovyle looks around as he tries to sense where Lucario is at. However just as Grovyle realize where Lucario is at he feels a powerful blow to the stomach which, due to the force of the punch that sent him flying up in the air, it dispersed the smoke on the ground which allow everyone to see. Grovyle soon start to fall before crashing on the ground and leaving a small crater in the ground. Just as Grovyle and Braixen start to get on their feet Clemont tell Luxray to use Swift on them. Luxray jumps into the air and its tail glowed yellow. It then swings its tail, releasing multiple yellow stars with golden sparkles trailing around them at Grovyle and Braixen. Both Pokémon take hits and are sent flying backward before crashing into the ground. Meanwhile in the stands Ash, Pikachu, Miette, Bonnie, and Dedenne watched the battle in awe.

"Wow, my brother and Korrina are working together like one well oil machine." Bonnie said in amazement.

"They're performing a lot better today than they did in their last two matches." Miette said, before turning to Ash. "Looks like we may be facing them after all." Ash gave Miette a knowing smile before returning his attention to the battle.

"I wouldn't call this battle over yet," Ash said. "If anything, I'd say that the battle is about to get started." Sure enough as Braixen and Grovyle were getting back on their feet. Braixen was glowing with red energy and Grovyle was glowing green.

"Whoa!" Miette exclaimed. "Grovyle Overgrow and Braixen Blaze ability have activated!" At the same time Korrina and Clemont, nodded at each other, knowing that they had to take down Grovyle and Braixen down before the tables turned on them.

"Lucario use Bone Rush on Braixen!"

"Luxray use Wild Charge on Grovyle!"

Lucario smashed his paws together and drew them apart, creating the twin light bones again as he rushed toward Braixen. At the same time Luxray became enveloped in electricity and charged at Grovyle. Just before Lucario was about to hit Braixen with Bone Rush, Serena ordered Braixen to spin and use Flamethrower. Braixen spun around in a circle creating a spiral flame shield. Lucario had picked up too much momentum, and couldn't stop himself as he crashed into the flames. The resulting explosion throws him back several feet. At the same time, Luxray was about to hit Grovyle only for Sawyer to tell him to use Leaf Storm. Grovyle jumps into the air, avoiding the Wild Charge while multiple green leaves start spinning around its body. Grovyle then fires the leaves at Luxray, literally blowing Luxray away. Luxray and Lucario were both struggling to get up as Serena and Sawyer decided to finish the battle.

"Braixen use Fire Blast!"

"Grovyle use Bullet Seed!"

Braixen shot a 大- fiery shaped blast from its wand with Grovyle shooting yellow seeds rapidly at Lucario and Luxray. Both attacks hit their targets and creating a mushroom cloud of smoke from the impact. The smoke settled, revealing that both Luxray and Lucario have fainted. Lucario reverted back to his normal form. "Luxray and Lucario are unable to battle; the winners are Serena and Sawyer!"

"Yeah we did it!" Sawyer cheered. "Serena that flame shield was genius! How did you come up with that idea?" Serena flushed from Sawyer question; she didn't want to tell him that she learned it from spying on Ash and Miette.

"Um, uh, just improvisation, that's all. Serena replied honestly while rubbing her head in embarrassment. At the same time Miette and Ash are amazed at what they just saw.

"I wonder how Serena came up with your counter shield idea." Miette asked Ash with a tone of suspicion as she looked at Serena.

"I don't know, maybe she just improvised." Ash theorized.

"Yeah, improvised…," Miette muttered with a nod, not convinced

Back on the field Clemont and Korrina knelt down on the ground and held their Pokémon heads as they smile proudly at them. "You did an amazing job Luxray, you deserve a good rest." Clemont says as he took out his Pokéball and return Luxray back to it in a flash of red light with Korrina doing the same with Lucario.

"That ends the first match of the semifinals! The mayor announced with his voice booming across the stadium thanks to his ear piece. We have one more match before it's time for the finale of this tournament so stay tune!"

…

Just like Serena and Sawyer, Ash and Miette were able to beat their opponents. While their opponents used a Scizor and Sneasel, they were no match for Ash's Talonflame and Miette's Slurpuff. After their match everyone except Clemont and Korrina met up with each other in the Pokémon Center.

"Looks like we'll be facing against each other in the final match," Sawyer said as he shined his Pokéballs.

"Well you guys won because of Serena _genius_ strategy of using flamethrower as a shield." Miette pointed out, giving Serena a sly look. "How did you come up with that strategy?" Serena felt her face heat up since she didn't want to reveal that she was spying on her and Ash so she decided to lie.

"Oh um, well, I just figured I needed to think outside of the box to win, that's all." Serena said while she hoped that Miette believed her.

"You know Serena, I actually came up with a strategy like that during my journey in Sinnoh; I called it the counter shield." Ash said.

"Yeah talk about a coincidence that you both came up with the exact same technique." Miette said as she flashed Serena a smirk. Deciding she didn't want to slip up, she decided to change topics.

"Hey Bonnie, where is Clemont and Korrina?" Serena asked hastily. Usually Clemont and Bonnie were always together so it was strange to not see the two siblings together.

"Well Korrina said that she got a call from her grandfather, apparently the gym been really busy and he needs her to come back immediately." Bonnie explained. "Korrina said she couldn't come since she's in a hurry and Clemont said he would help her out."

…

Sure enough Clemont, Bunnelby, and Korrina were sitting down on a bench at a mostly empty platform for the train that would take Korrina back to Shaolour City. "It's a bummer that you won't be able to stick around for the rest of the tournament," Clemont said as he looked so see if the train was on its way. Korrina sighed and looked at the ceiling sadly.

"Tell me about it, I really want to stay with you-ah I mean the tournament," Korrina hastily said as she felt her face blushing as she quickly turned away from Clemont to hide her embarrassment. "I wanted to stay and finish watching the tournament."

"Oh, um yeah the tournament," Clemont said nervously as he too blushed in embarrassment. Bunnelby looked back and forth between two gym leaders and sighed to himself. "Look on the bright side; at least you'll still be able to watch the match on the train since there will be a live streaming of it."

"Yeah, but battles are even more fun when you are up close in the action," Korrina pointed out. Suddenly she felt a rumble on the platform and saw the silver bullet train approaching before stopping at the platform. The doors slide open, passengers and their Pokémon began to disembark. Korrina got up and stretched her arms out. "Well, my ride's here, I guess this is goodbye for now."

"The others wouldn't have minded coming with us to wish you goodbye you know," Clemont said as he got up and walked Korrina to the train.

"Yeah but I didn't want to bother them," Korrina explained as they continued walking to the train before she suddenly stopped and grabbed Clemont hand much to his surprise. Korrina felt her heart beating in both fear and excitement for what she was about to do next. "Beside if they were here I wouldn't be able to do this." Before Clemont even knew what was happening he felt Korrina kiss him on the cheek much to his (and Bunnelby) surprise.

"Um, um, um, um." Clemont stuttered as his brain tried to processed what just happened while his face turned as red as a tomato. He can't believe a girl just kissed him! Korrina chuckled playfully at Clemont frozen expression before giving him a big smile.

"When you are done with your journey with Ash you should drop by Shaolour City so we can have a rematch," Korrina said. "The loser will have to buy the winner ice cream. Deal?" All Clemont could was to nod his head. Korrina gave him another smile and stepped onto the train. As the train left she stuck her head out the window and continued to wave Clemont goodbye until she was out of sight. Bunnelby looked up at his trainer and saw that Clemont was still petrified. He had to practically tackle Clemont's shin's to snap him out of his trance.

Clemont looked down at Bunnelby and gave him a pleading look. "Please don't tell anyone about what just happened." Clemont said to Bunnelby with a pleading look. Bunnelby put a paw on his lips and give him thumbs up using his ear to show that he promised to keep his lips sealed.

…

"Will the tag teams for the final match of the tournament please make their way to the stadium." The loudspeaker in the Pokémon Center said. Ash was the first to get up as he did a quick stretch and let Pikachu jump on his shoulder.

"Well, that's our call everyone, we better start heading up to the stadium." Ash said to the others.

"We've made it this far, so it's time to see who will win the prize." Miette said as she and everyone else got up.

"May the best team win." Sawyer said in excitement.

"I wonder where my brother is at though." Bonnie asked. She figured he would have been back by now. As fate would have it Clemont came through the door breathing heavily from the long run. "There you are Clemont! Did Korrina catch the train?" For some reason when Bonnie mentioned Korrina she could have sworn that Clemont blushed a little bit.

"Oh, um, yeah," Clemont said as he tried to catch his breath. "She told me to tell all of you good luck on the tournament and that she'll be watching it on the train."

"Man I wish she would have stuck around a bit longer," Bonnie said disappointingly. She was really hoping she could play matchmaker some more with Clemont and Korrina a bit more. Deciding not to let that bother her, Bonnie gave everyone a big smile. "But come on everyone, let's get to the stadium!" Bonnie ran out the door with everyone running after her toward the stadium with Clemont begging everyone to slow down.

…

"This is it ladies and gentleman, the final match of the Plawer Tag Team Tournament!" The mayor announced into his microphone. "These two pairs of tag team partners have shown their battling skills and teamwork which have led them to being the finalists in this tournament.

"Pikachu it's your time to shine, so go on out there," Ash said to Pikachu with a grin. Since he hasn't used Pikachu in the tournament yet it only made sense to finally give Pikachu a chance to battle. Pikachu smiled back as he jumped off of Ash's shoulder and onto the battlefield with a small burst of electricity crackling from his red cheek sacs.

"Since you are using Pikachu we can try out some different battle strategies," Miette said as she flashed Ash a smile before throwing out her Pokeball with Meowstic coming out in a flash of light.

"Let's win this thing Serena!" Sawyer said enthusiastically as he gave Serena a confident look.

"Um yeah, let's win this," Serena replied, trying to sound excited as she felt Butterfree's in her stomach. _Relax Serena, there's nothing to worry about. Don't think of it as battling the boy you have had a crush on since you were four or that you plan to tell him how you feel about him. No pressure._

"Bagon I choose you!"

"Pancham come on out!"

Both Pokémon came out in a blinding flash of white light and got into their fighting pose as they awaited their trainers direction. Up in the stadium Clemont, Bonnie, and Dedenne waited for the battle to start. "Who do you think will win Clemont?" Bonnie asked in curiosity.

"Hmm, well Ash is no pushover, and the same can be said for Miette so they'll be tough to beat," Clemont said thoughtfully. "However, Serena has seen how Ash battles so that gives her an advantage. Couple that with Sawyer's constant note taking on Ash and Miette's battling skills and it evens the playing field quite a lot. So in the end, either team could win."

"Ladies and gentleman let the battle begin!" The mayor announced. Not wanting to waste time Ash issued the first attack.

"Pikachu use Quick Attack on Bagon!"

"Meowstic use Psyshock on Pancham!"

Pikachu started running quickly toward Bagon with a streak of white light behind him while at the same time Meowstic formed a purple orb of energy in one of its hands and then fired three dark purple beams from the orb at Pancham.

"Bagon use Headbutt to counter Quick Attack!"

"Pancham use Dark Pulse to counter Psyshock!"

Bagon charged toward Pikachu as the head front attack bounced off of each other and made them slide backward due to the force of the attack. At the same time Pancham released a beam of purple and black circles from his hands to counter Psyshock which created a small explosion of smoke that quickly dispersed. Deciding not to give them a chance to recover Serena told Pancham to use Stone Edge on Pikachu and Meowstic. Pancham slammed his fists on the ground with pillars of stone glowing in blue energy headed toward Pikachu and Meowstic. Ash and Miette shared a quick look and nodded since they prepared a strategy for when Serena used Stone Edge.

"Pikachu wait for the right moment and use Iron Tail on the ground to launch yourself up in the air," Ash said to Pikachu

"Meowstic use Psyshock to send yourself up in the air to avoid Stone Edge. " Miette tells her Pokémon. Just seconds before a stone pillar could emerge from the ground Pikachu tail turned white and crashed it on the ground at the second the pillar emerge which send him flying upward to avoid the damage. At the same time, Meowstic formed a purple orb of energy in one of its hands and then fired three dark purple beams from the orb at the ground, sending him up into the sky.

"Pikachu use Thunderbolt on Pancham and Bagon!" Ash ordered. Bolts of electricity flowed from Pikachu toward Pancham and Bagon as Miette told Meowstic to use Psychic to hold itself and Pikachu in place while also using it on Thunderbolt. The streams of electricity from Pikachu Thunderbolt glowed slightly blue as they continued toward their targets. Serena and Sawyer told their Pokémon to split up to avoid the attack, only for the Thunderbolt to follow them, causing the two Pokémon to keep on dancing around the Thunderbolt that was chasing them. Serena bit her lower lip in frustration as she tried to think of what to do next.

 _Ash must have told Miette about his battle with Olympia and how her Meowstic used Psychic to control Psyshock so applied that technique to Pikachu Thunderbolt. If only Pancham and Bagon could get close to them to land a hit with the Thunderbolt following them but neither of them can fly. Unless…_

"Pancham use Dark Pulse on the ground to fly toward Meowstic!" Serena called out. Pancham released a beam of purple and black circles from his hands on the ground below him and he blasted his way toward Meowstic and Pikachu. Sawyer quickly caught on, and told Bagon to do the same thing with Dragon Breath and to use Headbutt on Pikachu. Bagon release a white beam of energy from its mouth as he also flew toward Pikachu head forward with the Thunderbolt still following both Bagon and Pancham.

"Pancham flip over Meowstic and attack from behind with Dark Pulse!"

"Pikachu use Iron Tail on Bagon!"

Pancham was able to flip over Meowstic while in the air and released a beam of purple and black circles from his hands at Meowstic back at the exact same moment the Thunderbolt hit Meowstic creating a massive explosion of smoke. At the Same time Pikachu's tail glowed white as he flipped forward. His tail makes contact with Bagon's head, throwing Bagon into the ground. In that same instant, Pikachu used his tail as leverage, throwing himself a little higher to dodge Thunderbolt. Due to Meowstic getting hit the psychic connection that was keeping Pikachu floating in the sky broke as he, Pancham, and Meowstic started falling toward the ground. Serena told Pancham to use Arm Thrust to cushion his fall, while Ash told Pikachu to use Iron Tail to cushion his fall. Both Pancham hands and Pikachu's tail glowed white as both of them landed on the ground with their glowing body parts with Pancham getting on his feet quickly and jumped backward toward Serena while Meowstic crashed into the ground.

"Meowstic!"

"Bagon!"

The referee looked at both Pokémon to see if they were still able to get up. When he saw neither was able to continue, the referee made his decision. "Bagon and Meowstic are unable to battle!"

"You did a good job Meowstic," Miette said as she returned Meowstic to her Pokeball. Ash it's all up to you now."

"Gotcha."

At the same time Sawyer returned Bagon to his Pokeball. "You battled hard Bagon, you deserve a good rest. Sawyer said as he turned to Serena with a smile. "Well Serena it's just now you and Ash now, do your best and win this thing."

"R-right!" Serena stuttered before calming herself down as turned to look at Ash and Pikachu. _Okay Serena, it's just you and Ash battling out now. You know Ash is strong and isn't going to be easy to beat but you also know how he battles. Just give it your all and show your crush how tough you are._

In the stadiums Clemont, Dedenne, and Bonnie watched the scene with much interest. "This is certainly a change of events," Clemont remarked. "I think this is the first time Ash and Serena have actually battled against each other. Serena may know how Ash battles but we both know firsthand how Ash can be hard to predict."

"All I know is this must be pretty hard for Serena," Bonnie said as she could only imagine how Serena must feel about battling her crush.

"What do you mean by that Bonnie?" Clemont asks, not knowing what Bonnie meant. Bonnie just sighed at his brother cluelessness and told him to forget it and go back to watching the battle.

"Pikachu use Iron Tail on Pancham!" Ash ordered. Pikachu started to run quickly toward Pancham with his tail glowing white as Serena told Pancham to hold his ground. Once Pikachu got closed enough he jumped up and was about to hit Pancham on the head with Iron Tail only for Serena to tell Pancham to use Arm Thrust. Pancham hands glowed white as he caught Pikachu Iron Tail much to his and Ash's surprise. Knowing what Ash would do next Serena told Pancham to use Dark Pulse at the exact same moment Ash told Pikachu to use Electro Ball. Due to Pancham holding unto Pikachu Tail the two energy attacks built up and collided with each other almost instantly, resulting in a huge white burst of light that caused a huge explosion of smoke that sent both Pokémon flying backward and crashing into the ground. Both Pokémon try to get up as the smoke settled.

"Pancham are you okay?" Serena asked worryingly. Pancham slowly stood, giving Serena thumbs up to show that he was still good to battle.

"Pikachu are you still able to battle?" Ash asked anxiously. Pikachu got back up on all fours and turned to Ash with a smile as electricity buzzed from his red sacs, showing that he was still willing to battle. Ash smile at this as he looked back at Serena. "Serena that was a great move you did back there catching Pikachu Iron Tail with Arm Thrust."

Serena blushed from Ash's comment. "It was nothing really," she said, trying to be humble. "I just thought back to what Clemont did when you did your Gym battle against him," Serena explained as she tried to calm down her racing heart. "But Pancham and I aren't done yet. Pancham use Stone Edge!" Pancham slammed his fists on the ground. Pillars of stone erupted from the stadium grounds, glowing with blue energy as they rumbled toward Pikachu.

"Pikachu jump on them toward Pancham using Quick Attack!" Ash ordered. Pikachu jumped from pillar to pillar, trailing a stream of white light behind him as headed toward Pancham. Just as Pikachu jumped off the last pillar Serena told Pancham to use Dark Pulse. Ash grinned. "I hoped that you'd try that." As Pancham released a beam of purple and black circles from his hands Ash told Pikachu to spin. This allowed Pikachu to avoid Dark Pulse while spinning on the side of the attack and made direct contact with Pancham that sent him flying backward into the ground much to everyone surprise.

"Whoa!" Bonnie said in amazement at what Ash just did. What just happened?"

"This is amazing!" Clemont cried enthusiastically. "Pikachu's spinning creates wind pressure that acts just like a dodging cushion, allowing him to evade in mid air while still going forward! What an amazing strategy!"

Back on the field the referee looked at Pancham to see if he had fainted. When he saw no sign of movement he was about to declare Ash and Miette the winner only for Pancham to slowly get up once more as he was determine to help Serena win this match. "Pancham are you sure you are still able to battle?" Serena asked with concern. She knew Pancham have taken a lot of damage but he was still willing to battle. Pancham gave Serena a smile as he turned back to face Pikachu and got into a fighting staff that made both Ash and Pikachu smile due to his determination.

"Serena, you and Pancham make a really good team. Ash said respectfully. "But it's time to finish this battle. Pikachu use Thunderbolt!" Bolts of lightning flowed from Pikachu, snapping and crackling their way toward Pancham.

"Pancham use Dark Pulse with everything you have left!" Serena ordered with determination. Pancham released a beam of purple and black circles from his hands toward Thunderbolt. The two moves met, and got caught in an energy battle as both moves tried to overcome the other. "Come on Pancham I know you can do it!" Pancham poured all of his energy in his attack as he tried to overwhelm Thunderbolt but it was no use. Thunderbolt cut through the Dark Pulse like it was a piece of paper and made a direct hit on Pancham that caused a huge explosion. Once the smoke settled Pancham was on his back knocked out.

"Pancham is unable to battle; the winners are Ash and Miette!" The referee announced. The whole crowd cheered. The tournament ended on such an exciting battle.

Serena ran onto the battlefield to her Pokémon. She lifted up Pancham's head and gave him a smile. "You did a great job Pancham; you deserve a long good rest," Serena said as she returned him to his Pokeball. As she got up Ash and Miette walked up to her with Sawyer coming up from behind.

"You two did really well," Ash said to Serena and Sawyer. "It was really fun battling against you two."

"Yeah, I have to say Serena, for a minute it looked like you were actually about to beat Ash." Miette told her rival.

"I need to thank you two!" Sawyer said excitedly as he quickly wrote in his notebook. "You guys gave me some great ideas for new strategies especially that spin technique you did, Ash. And Serena you did an amazing job as well."

"Oh, um, it was nothing really," Serena said as she felt her face heat up again. She suddenly noticed Ash offering a hand.

"Nonsense Serena you did a great job, both you and Pancham." Ash said happily with his hand still stuck out. Serena slowly grasped it and they shook. All the while Serena tried not to faint or swoon since she was holding hands with her crush!

…

Miette and Ash stood next to the mayor on the stadium as he started to talk. "Ladies and gentleman, this year Plawer Tag Team Tournament was an exciting one with many amazing duos. The team that has came out on top are Ash and Miette," the Mayor said as he pulled out a hefty looking black box from underneath the podium and opened it. "So I'd like to provide them with these commemorative plaques that proved their determination." The plaques rectangular, made from brown wood with the surface having a golden picture of two Pokéballs next to each other with silhouettes of two trainers underneath it. Underneath was inscribed in gold lettering:

 _ **This plaque represents the effort, strength, and teamwork of the tag team that competed**_

 _ **In the Plawer Tag Team Tournament.**_

"With that the Plawer Tag Team Tournament has ended, I wish you all a good day." The Mayor announced.

…

The sun was setting in the distance, painting the horizon a golden orange. Ash, Serena, Clemont, Pikachu, Dedenne, Sawyer, and Miette all stood outside of the Pokémon Center as they prepared to go their separate ways.

"I'm glad that we all met up in this tournament," Sawyer said as he reminisced all the battles he'd partaken in and seen. "This has really given me the chance to come up with some new strategies to prepare for my next gym battle."

"Once we both get our gym badges we'll be able to participate in the Kalos league." Ash said excitedly as he thought about finally winning a league.

"Well while you boys are getting ready for the league Serena and I will be getting our princess keys and eventually face off in the Pokémon showcase," Miette said as she rested her arm on Serena's shoulder. Miette whispered into Serena's ear "Plus there's still our _other_ competition." She winked at Ash; much to Serena's frustration she pushed Miette away. Miette smiled slyly; she might love teasing Serena a little _too much_. "Well I'll see you all later, I got a princess key to win." With that Miette ran off toward the next Pokémon showcase.

"Well I better be off too," Sawyer said as he started to walk. As he approached an intersection, still within earshot, he his head back and called out. "Ash, let's have a rematch the next time we meet."

"You can count on it Sawyer!" Ash yelled back, giving Sawyer thumbs up as Sawyer. continued his journey. Ash turned to Serena. "So Serena where's your next showcase being held at?"

"Well according to the map it's being held in Couriway Town." Serena said as she looked at her digital map.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Bonnie asked, full of energy. "Let's go!" Bonnie ran off with Clemont chasing after her while telling her not to rush off by herself. As Ash and Serena laughed at Clemont and Bonnie antics Serena took a deep breath, preparing to confess to Ash.

"Hey, um, Ash, there's something I have to tell you," Serena said to Ash as she felt her heart pounding erratically..

"Yeah, what is it Serena?" Ash asked with a curious tilt of his head.

"Um, well, you see, it's, um, ah….." Serena stuttered as she tried to get her mouth to form the right sentence. "What I'm trying to say is…. Last one to Couriway Town is a Snorlax!" Blushing furiously, Serena ran off, so that Ash wouldn't see her tomato-red face.

"Wait a minute!" Ash and Pikachu tailed after her, laughing. "Who are you calling a Snorlax!?"

As Serena ran all she could think about was her feelings for Ash. _Maybe I'm not ready to tell him how I feel about him yet, but I will soon. So in the meantime, I'm going to have as much fun as him as I can._

With that, the gang ran off into the sunset toward Couriway Town.

 **I'm finally done! This has to be the longest chapter of a fanfiction I have ever wrote! But I'm glad that all the people who have favorite and followed this have enjoy it. So please, leave a review and tell me what you think of the story and what your favorite parts were. This is PC the Unicorn logging off until next time.**


End file.
